Renewed Call for Freedom of Movement

Press Release—The ECOWAS Council of Ministers have ended their two-day meeting in Abuja on Sunday, 18th May 2008 with a renewed call on Member States to effectively implement the Protocol relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Establishment.

The Council, which is composed of Ministers responsible for regional integration in Member States, made the call following the 2008 interim report by the President of the ECOWAS Commission which highlighted certain problems faced by citizens in the region, especially problems relating to the security of travellers.

Their call is consistent with that of the Committee on Trade, Customs, Tourism, Free Movement of persons, Industry and Mines, who met in September 2007 in Accra on the issue, including equal treatment between refugees and other ECOWAS citizens as well as the right of residence and establishment.

While noting efforts by Member States such as Nigeria and Niger which have embarked on joint projects to facilitate the movement of citizens across borders the Council urged Member States to emulate such a good example in developing bilateral projects which will complement the regional integration process.

Further on the need for collaboration among Member States, the Council strongly appealed to oil-exporting countries to show solidarity with their net oil-importing counterparts to help mitigate the problems in their countries.

The Ministers who also considered matters relating to the negotiation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between West Africa and Europe, requested the ECOWAS and the UEMOA Commissions, in accordance with the recommendations of the February 2008 Nouakchott Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting on the EPA, to expedite the establishment of the rules and institutions required for the standardization and certification of products originating from the Community in order to strengthen the mechanism relating to the facilitation of trade between the Member States.

In addition, they said the EPA should be made development-oriented tool as agreed by regional Ministers of Trade at the Nouakchott meeting.

Also, they requested that all outstanding issues on the Common External Tariff (CET) be resolved soon while the regional approach should continue to guide the negotiations on the agreement and development issues form the focus of the agreement.

On the monetary programme, the Council implored Member States, particularly those of the second monetary zone - The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone - to ensure that challenges such as governance issues in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) are addressed and that the monetary integration programme proceeds unhindered.

Another area of concern addressed by the Council is the current food crisis on which Ministers of Agriculture, Trade and Finance will meet in Abuja in an extra-ordinary session on Monday, 19th May 2008. The Council recommended that the suggestions of the Ministerial meeting should lead to a regional approach towards sustaining food security in conformity with the ECOWAS Common Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP), which was adopted in January 2005 in Accra.

The Council which considered a report by the Ad Hoc Committee on Selection and Evaluation of the Performance of Statutory Appointees on the appointment of the Commissioner for Human and Gender Development approved the appointment of Dr. Adrienne Yande Diop, for the post of Commissioner for Human and Gender Development at the ECOWAS Commission. Dr. Diop has been the Director of Communication at the Commission.

Other reports adopted by the Council, and which will be presented to the next summit of Heads of State and Government, include those of the Administration and Finance Commission, the sixth Inter-Governmental Action Group Against money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Africa (GIABA) Ad doc Ministerial Committee Meeting, the ECOWAS Water Resources and Environmental Policy and regulatory texts on pesticides, seeds and biotechnology as well as the Ministerial meeting on the Supplementary Acts on Competition and Investment.

Part of the GIABA report deals with plans to extend the organization’s mandate to include combat against drug trafficking.

The Supplementary Acts on Competition and Investment which will be presented for approval by regional leaders has the following three components: The Supplementary Act adopting Community rules on competition and modalities for implementing them within ECOWAS, the Supplementary Act establishing the Regional Authority on Competition and defining its duties and functions and the Supplementary Act on Community rules on investment and establishing modalities for implementing them.

The recommendation is based on a common approach earlier adopted by the Ministerial Monitoring Committee on the EPA to combating the establishment of an anti-competitive environment that could slow down innovation, discourage investment and impact on the unemployment levels in Member States.

While closing the meeting on 18th May 2008, the Chairperson of the Council, Mrs. Minata Semate-Cessouma, called on the ECOWAS Commission to ensure that the Council’s recommendations become operational in the region. Similarly, she urged Member States to ensure the effective implementation of regional programmes in their domain so as to improve the lives of Community citizens.

Welcoming his colleagues at the opening on Saturday, 17th May 2008, the Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, expressed satisfaction with the successes recorded on security in the region, especially in the areas of peace, security and development, even while noting that efforts still had to be made in other areas including the common external tariff, the common currency and free movement of persons and goods.

Ambassador Bagudu stated that the challenges facing the region, such as the reduction of poverty and economic integration, can only be met by a strong political commitment by Member States.

In her address, Mrs. Minata Semate-Cessouma noted that the meeting was being held at a time when the international economic crisis was seriously affecting West Africa. She stated that considering the gravity of the crisis, only solidarity and consultation at the regional level, rather than the short-term emergency measures taken by Member States, could help find appropriate and lasting solutions to the situation.

She also declared that the development objectives agreed on by ECOWAS when it adopted the regional poverty reduction strategy cannot be achieved without a common solution internal to all its institutions.

While making his statement, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, explained that the June session of the Council of Ministers enables the Commission to carry out a mid-term review of the execution of annual programmes and announced that significant progress had been made in the implementation of all programmes, despite some difficulties encountered by the Commission, mainly as a result of inadequate staffing.

Dr. Chambas, who later presented the 2008 Interim Report of the Commission, noted that the economic and political trends in the region had been positive. He said West Africa experienced an increase in GDP from $141.9 billion in 2005 to $199.1 billion in 2007. According to him, the regional GDP is projected to reach $232.7 billion in 2008.

He however said the region still faces a myriad of challenges which impede its ability to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These include poverty, infrastructure deficiency, insufficient formal intra-regional trade and increase in the prices of commodities, particularly food and oil.

While calling on Member States to sustain the economic and financial reforms embarked upon which are aimed at enhancing the growth of the regional economy, the President also implored oil-exporting Member States to show solidarity with their non oil-exporting counterparts.

He also briefed the Council on progress made on such projects as the West African Gas Pipeline, of which he said the first transmission of gas would soon begin following the finalization of offshore activities, including the laying of pipelines. In addition, he disclosed that the ECOWAS Railway Master Plan has been completed.

The President’s report also featured specific cases of the second monetary integration programme, trade and challenges in respect of free movement, right of residence and right of establishment, which he said are also being addressed.

On the security situation in the region, Dr. Chambas said there were no active conflicts in the region, declaring a general improvement with signs of stabilization in many areas, including Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo. He said that regional stability is also being enhanced through credible organization of legislative and presidential elections in many of the Member States.

However, he observed that there are some areas of concern which include migration, continuing armed attacks in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria as well as instability in the northern parts of Ghana, Mali and Niger.

He identified other threats to regional peace and security including banditry, hostage-taking, human trafficking and other criminal activities amidst the continuing proliferation of small arms and light weapons. Particularly worrisome, Dr. Chambas said, is the spreading phenomenon of drug trafficking which poses a serious challenge to States.

He said drug trafficking requires a regional approach and ECOWAS will continue to collaborate with Member States, the Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drug Control and development partners to strengthen its capacity to contain the scourge.

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